Ravi gets 30 days Jail Time

Recommended Posts

This has got to be so hard for the family of Tyler Clementi. Can you imagine the heartbreak of the dead son as the mother of the defendant, bawled and that her son (who was possibly facing at least 10 years) had not even yet had the chance to live his life, that he already had "so much on his shoulders"? What about the Tyler Clementi? Who has less of the chance to live his life? Is the one that was breathing and looking quite indifferent as the mother of the son he had spied on cried? Or is it the one who ended his life after being humiliated by the defendant's cyber actions?

I know that Ravi did not physically murder Clementi, that Clementi took his own life. However, that the judge gave Ravi a slap on the wrist and not, at the VERY LEAST, 3,000 (what the heck is 300 hours? That's not even a slap on the wrist; that is a peck on the cheek!) hours of community service and cyber bullying education is just deplorable.

I am no advocate for Clementi's lifestyle, there are many people who are advocates for such. However, who can, in any way, be endowed with the human factor and not notice that Clementi seems to be being treated as if he were a non-human just because of his lifestyle?

Former Rutgers student Dharun Raviwas sentenced to 30 days in jail by a New Jersey judge today for spying on his roommate's gay tryst. Ravi's freshman roommate Tyler Clementi committed suicide days later.

"I do not believe he hated Tyler Clementi," Judge Glenn Berman told the court. "He had no reason to, but I do believe he acted out of colossal insensitivity."

Ravi, 20, must report to Middlesex Adult Correctional Center on May 31 at 9 a.m. for his 30 day jail term. He was also sentenced to three years probation, ordered to complete 300 hours of community service and attend counseling programs for cyber-bullying and alternative lifestyles.

He must also pay a $10,000 assessment to the probation department in increments of $300 per month beginning Aug. 1. The money will go to victims of bias crimes. The judge recommended that Ravi, who was born in India and is here on a green card, not be deported.

Berman also berated Ravi by saying that most defendants stand when a judge speaks to them, but told him, "Keep your seat." The judge called Ravi's pre-sentencing letter "unimpressive."

Ravi, who was expected to make a statement to the packed New Brunswick, N.J. courtroom, declined to speak before the sentence was read.

The prosecution, which sought a significant prison term, indicated it will appeal the judge's sentence.

Ravi was convicted of invasion of privacy, bias intimidation, witness tampering and hindering arrest, stemming from his role in activating the webcam to peek at Clementi's date with a man in the dorm room on Sept. 19, 2010. Ravi was also convicted of encouraging others to spy during a second date, on Sept. 21, 2010, and intimidating Clementi for being gay.

Before the judge's sentencing, Ravi's mother delivered an emotional plea for leniency during which she and her son both broke into tears. At the end of her plea, Ravi's mother threw herself on her son, sobbing and hugging him.

"Dharun's dreams are shattered," his mother Sabitha Ravi cried. "And he has been living in hell for the past 20 months. It's hard for me to say that my son is sitting here physically alive in front of everyone...I feel that Dharun has really suffered enough for the past two years in the media."

Sabitha Ravi said that her son lives an isolated life studying, has lost 25 pounds and only eats one meal a day to "suppress his hunger."

"This case has been tried, has been treated and exists today, as if it's a murder case," defense attorney Steve Altman said. He spoke about the need for Ravi to be defended and looked at the Clementi family when he said, "I know that family hates me. I'm a demon to them."

Clementi's family bitterly asked the judge today to sentence Ravi to prison time.

Clementi's father, Joseph Clementi, told the judge, "One of Tyler's last actions was to check Ravi's Twitter page" and noted that his son checked his roommate's Twitter page 37 times before leaving the Rutgers campus and driving to the George Washington Bridge where he jumped to his death.

Ravi was convicted of a hate crime for using a webcame to spy on Clementi during a sexual liaison with a man identified only as "MB" and announcing what he saw on Twitter. Ravi put out another tweet when he heard Clementi was having a second date with MB.

Joseph Clementi said that Ravi decided his son "wasn't deserving the respect of basic human decency" and "was below him" because Tyler Clementi was gay.

"He did it in a cold calculating manner and then he tried to cover it up," the father, who had to pause to compose himself, said. Clementi's mother Jane Clementi cried in the front row has her husband spoke.

The father accused Ravi of having any "lack of remorse."

Tyler Clementi's mother Jane Clementi recalled the day she helped her "excited" son move into his Rutgers dorm room and the coldness Ravi showed by not getting up from his computer to say hello.

Dharun Ravi Showed No Remorse, Tyler Clementi's Family Stated

"He never even paused to acknowledge that Tyler was in the room," she said. "He never stopped what he was doing, no greeting, no smile, no recognition, no nothing."

Jane Clementi said that though she initially thought Ravi may have been stressed or busy, she said she realized during trial that that was not the case.

She heard during the trial that Ravi had not reached out to her son on Facebook or via email, but, rather, had used his computer skills to plug Clementi's email address into various computer programs to discover what websites he frequented and to discover that Tyler was gay.

"He never really knew Tyler, not the smart, kind, articulate, humble, funny, talented, caring, thoughtful, generous, trustworthy and dependable person Tyler was," she said. "All he found out was that Tyler was gay."

She called Ravi's actions toward her son "arrogant and mean-spirited."

Clementi's brother, James, told the court, "I watched as Dharun slept through court as if it was not worth" paying attention. "I watched Dharun and his lawyers laugh as if it were a private joke."

Earlier a lawyer for MB read a statement asking for prison time for Ravi because, he said, Ravi has not accepted responsibility for his actions.

"He must serve some type of confinement… To this day he appears to blame me for his conduct," citing Ravi's claim that he spied on his roommate because he feared MB would steal his iPad.

In recent days, several prominent gay activists have made public pleas for Ravi to not be sent to prison.

The judge began the proceedings today by noting the court had received a box full of petitions seeking a pardon for Ravi.

Some of the petitions were addressed to President Obama, but the judge said the president has no ability to pardon someone for a state crime.

Some of the petitions were addressed to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who would have the authority to pardon someone for a state crime. ***You know though, when I think about it, karma can be something else. 30 days in jail might even be all that Ravi needs to be taught a lesson in empathy... Wonder if his hands are steady enough to not drop the soap.. Mind a CO records it with his iPhone... Karma is like lightning; man cannot tell it where to strike.**

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

I've always been vexed with how the justice system works when it comes to the punishment fitting the crime. Some people can commit multiple murders and not get the death sentence and others can just kill one person and get it. Drug dealers are routinely given longer sentences than drunken drivers guilty of wreckless homicide. White collar crimes especially seem to draw lighter sentences, its perpetrators often being put on probation and just required to make restitution something they are usually too broke to do. Embezzlers steal millions of dollars and the court seems to take mercy on them, not considering their greed and dishonesty crimes.

Rav'is crime certainly had something to do with contempt, if not hate. 30 days seems a very light sentence for someone who did, indeed, show no remorse.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Oh yes indeed. I'm tellin you Lady Justice ain't blind; she' schizophrenic. These lawmakers have a mother and it is she. One cannot truly examine the child without truly examining the mother. What can we expect from this system? It is the child of those who could claim liberty and justice for all, all while maintaining a slave society.